Oregon Daily
FRIDAY. OCTOBER 15. 1993
EUGENE. OREGON
VOLUME 95. ISSUE 33
Out with the old
P
L .-a*—
Ukjrymi' Sfi-t:.. Xj (fwi
Gerald Henry, with the UO Physical Plant, uses a bobcat to remove the sidewalk in front
of Straub Hall A new sidewalk will replace the old cracked and damaged one
Ruling jeopardizes
sales tax measure
j November election
may be canceled
By Edward Klopfenstein
( On* f merjiM
Though facing possibly no
elei lions in November. ASUO
officials art* still i ommitted lo
registering 4.000 students by the
Oct t‘> registration dead I inn.
Marion County Circuit lodge
Albin Nurhlad ruled Wednesday
(hat Ballot Measure 1 was uncon
stitutional because it contained
more than one constitutional
amendment.
The judge ruled the measure
should Ihi either voted on sepa
rately or pulled off of the ballot.
The ruling caught ASl IO State
Affairs ('oortlinator Philip Hent
lev by surprise, he said, though
no changes are planned in the
voter registration program Bent
ley i' in i harge of the ASl <) reg
is! rat ion drive.
The judge's ruling was sur
prising because 1990's Hallo!
Measure 5. which passed, was
similar to the current tax mea
sure. a multifaceted reform pack
age. Ben*lev said
Bentley will he talking with
state off it inis, t ommittee mem
bers and members of the I egis
lature during the next few days
to better understand the fate of
the lax measure, he said
"At this point, I am confident
there will lx' elet turns m Novem
l>vr," Bentley stud "Mv only con
cern is time ”
Elections might be canceled if
a higher i ourt doesn't ov erturn
the ruling bei ause the state
wouldn't meet the deadlines ms
essarv to change ballots and
inform out-of-state voters
Bentley said he e\|ws ts the rul
ing to be overturned and elm
Turn to VOTERS. Page 9
Two new members
increase ranks of IFC
j Students bring diversity to committee
By Edward Klopfenstein
Ortygtx*inwtftki
I hi- Incidental Fee Committee boosted its ranks Wednesday night
when two new members joiniKi tint financ e body
Committee members Preston Cannon and Shannon Wall worn
approved by the Student Senate at a meeting Tuesday night The
pair were appointed before the meeting by ASCO President I'.ric
Bowen.
"I think I'm right for the job fun a use I don't have a politic al agen
da.'' Cannon said
Wall said she was very exc ited about joining the Il'C
Both new momliers bring very diverse bac kgrounds to a commit
tee that needs more non politic al members to shake a very political
past, Bowen said in a past interview
Cannon. .10, labels himself as a non-traditional student coming
bac k to c ollegp to finish his undergraduate degree The sophomore
is considering broadcast journalism as a major
Turn to ICF, Page 9
CAHOOTS brings human response to emergency situations
j Radio-dispatched van
assists police by
responding to crisis calls,
suicides
Stephanie Sisson
Qregor> Q&ty Ernef&kJ
Calling 911 may not get you any help
from the Eugene police
It may, instead, get you assistance from
CAHOOTS.
CAHOOTS, or Crisis Assistance Help
ing Out On The Streets, is a mobile team
with the White Bird Clinic that responds
to alcohol and drug problems, mental ill
ness and other human service problems.
It is part of Eugene's Community
Response Team.
"We do a lot of things that historically
have been done by police, but that aren't
law enforcement things," said David
Zeiss, program coordinator for
CAHOOTS.
CAHOOTS consists of a van that is
radio-dispatched through the 911 system
and a two-person team staffing tht> van at
all times One person is a crisis worker
with experience in mental health prob
lems. The other staff person is a medic,
usually a trained Emergency Medical
Technician or a nurse.
"When we’re out there on the street, in
the field, we’ll often come across a situa
tion that requires at least some kind of
medical assessment." Zeiss said. "Our
focus is not on physical medicine. It’s
just something we need to have, a back
up. just in case.”
Zeiss said that several years ago. White
Bird began thinking of ways to make Cri
sis Intervention more accessible to the
community.
"To a limited extent, we've always had
some capacity to get in a car and go some
place else in the community ... if some
body needed our help who couldn't make
it into White Bird,” he said
Iii .1 grim! irom trio i .itv ot r.ugene
made CAHOOTS possible. The program
is still entirely funded through the c ity.
Tim Birr, Public. Information Offic er for
the Department of Public Safety, says
CAHOOTS can help some people in cer
tain situations better than a police offi
cer would be able to.
"CAHOOTS provide# a more appropri
ate and a more humane response to cer
tain types of calls," Birr said.
According to Birr, in 1981. Eugene had
161 sworn police officers and took 55,000
c alls. He compared that to last year's 147
officers and HO,000 calls. "CAHOOTS
frees up officers' time to do things they
are more qualified to do and are set up to
deal with," he said.
Although CAHOOTS typically deals
with young to middle-aged adults, they
try to lie available to everyone. Zeiss said.
"For example, a kind of thing where
we’d lie typically dispatched is somebody
who is wandering around, who seems
IOSI, Wilt) migiu in’ IIII mutiny '.nil nun
has Alzheimer's," In* said. "Thai’s not
unusual for us."
The (.alls CAHOOTS handles are often
ones involving substance abuse, mental
illness, some kind of emotional crisis,
and family disputes that pose a small risk
of violence.
Another thing CAIUX3TS usually deals
with are welfare checks. Welfare checks
are typically made by police when some
one calls them out of concern for some
one they know who they haven't been
able to contact.
“We are often the ones who go out to
the house to try lo figure out what's going
on." Zeiss said.
Zeiss said that he sees a need for more
services like CAHOOTS in Eugene.
"It's clear that it would make more
sense for CAHOOTS to be operating
seven days a week, and the only reason
we're not is Measure 5." he said. “There
Turn to CAHOOTS, Page 9